2

having supported, but also that the new creation in him, Christ our God, cooperated with me, the most unlearned, so as to clearly demonstrate that in the 5500th year of the world his incarnate economy took place, and whatever notable events occurred in the intervening time concerning both nations and kingdoms and of the eight hundred and two years after this, namely 33 years and 40 days of the economy on earth, and 766 years and 10 months and 20 days of the time after his holy ascension, that is from the first-created day until the 6th cosmic universal year of the 1st indiction, as is set out below. 3 Africanus says the first day is intelligible because the first-created light was for a time unorganized and diffused. In the first-created day-and-night, on the first of the first month Nisan among the Hebrews, as has been shown before, but among the Romans the 25th of the month of March, and among the Egyptians the 29th of Phamenoth, on the Lord's day, that is, one of the sabbaths, God made the heaven and the earth, the darkness and the waters, spirit and light and a day-and-night, seven works together. in the second day-and-night the firmament came to be, 1 work. in the third day-and-night there were 4 works, the appearance of the earth and its drying up, paradise, all kinds of trees, herbs and seeds. on the 4th day God made the sun and the moon and the stars. on the 5th day God made all the creeping and swimming things, sea-monsters and fish and whatever is in the waters, and also birds, 3 works together. on the 6th day God made the quadrupeds and the creeping things of the earth, the beasts and man, 4 works. All together 22 works, equal in number to the 22 Hebrew letters and to the 22 Hebrew books and to the twenty-two generations from Adam to Jacob, as is recorded in the Little Genesis, which some also say is the revelation of Moses. This says that the heavenly powers were created on the first day. Saint John and the great among teachers, Chrysostom, says that Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise on the 6th day of the 1st week, that is on the same day as his creation, in his commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew, whom we also obey. The seventh day is the sabbath, on which God rested from his works, and he hallowed it. The God-seer Moses has left uncertain for us the amount of time the first-created spent in paradise, and it is necessary that those of us who are imperfect not seek and meddle in things that have been passed over in silence by the God-inspired scripture. For whatever was beneficial and comprehensible to men, these things have been handed down to us through the holy spirit, and it is not right for those who read correctly to go beyond 4 the divine boundaries, lest instead of a small gain they incur a great loss. But since some, being unrestrained in discussion, whether from a seeming love of learning or pricked by vainglory, holding the divine oracles in their hands try to show that our forefather Adam was not immediately brought into paradise by God, or that, having entered before the creation of the woman, he gave names to the beasts and to the birds of the heaven, which was not the work of one day for human weakness and strength, as they contentiously argue, because the scripture says that God also planted paradise in Eden to the east and placed there the man whom he had formed, and God made to grow out of the earth every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God still formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the heaven. And he brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Then after such things it adds: But for Adam there was not found a helper like him. And the Lord cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh in its place, and so on; I was necessarily led also to declare in part concerning this, as much as also other historians who wrote Jewish antiquities or Christian histories concerning

2

ὑποστησάμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ καινὴν κτίσιν Χριστὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν συνεργῆσαί μοι τῷ ἀμαθεστάτῳ, ὥστε σαφῶς ἀποδεῖξαι τῷ εφʹ ἔτει τοῦ κόσμου τὴν ἔνσαρκον αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι οἰκονομίαν, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ γέγονεν ἐπίσημα πράγματα περί τε ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας καὶ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ὀκτακοσίων δύο ἐτῶν, λγʹ μὲν ἐτῶν καὶ ἡμερῶν μʹ τῆς ἐπὶ γῆς οἰκονομίας, ἑπτακοσίων δὲ καὶ ξ ςʹ καὶ μηνῶν ιʹ καὶ ἡμερῶν κʹ τῶν μετὰ τὴν ἁγίαν αὐτοῦ ἀνάληψιν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀπὸ τῆς πρωτοκτίστου ἡμέρας ἕως τοῦ κοσμικοῦ καθολικοῦ ςτʹ ἔτους ἰνδικτίωνος αʹ, ὡς ὑποτέτακται. 3 Τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν ὁ Ἀφρικανὸς νοητὴν λέγει διὰ τὸ ἀδιοργάνιστον εἶναι τέως τὸ πρωτόκτιστον φῶς καὶ κεχυμένον. Ἐν τῷ πρωτοκτίστῳ νυχθημέρῳ, τῇ πρώτῃ τοῦ παρ' Ἑβραίοις πρώτου μηνὸς Νισάν, ὡς προδέδεικται, παρὰ δὲ Ῥωμαίοις κεʹ τοῦ Μαρτίου μηνός, καὶ παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις κθʹ τοῦ Φαμενώθ, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κυριακῇ, ἤτοι μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων, ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, τὸ σκότος καὶ τὰ ὕδατα, πνεῦμα καὶ φῶς καὶ νυχθήμερον, ὁμοῦ ἔργα ἑπτά. ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ νυχθημέρῳ ἐγένετο τὸ στερέωμα, ἔργον αʹ. ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ νυχθημέρῳ ἐγένε το ἔργα δʹ, φανέρωσις γῆς καὶ ἀναξήρανσις, παράδεισος, δένδρα παντοῖα, βοτάναι καὶ σπέρματα. τῇ δʹ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας. τῇ εʹ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ἑρπετὰ καὶ τὰ νηκτὰ πάντα, κήτη καὶ ἰχθύας καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι, ἔτι τε πετεινά, ὁμοῦ ἔργα γʹ. τῇ ςʹ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ τετράποδα καὶ τὰ ἑρπετὰ τῆς γῆς, τὰ θηρία καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἔργα δʹ. ὁμοῦ τὰ πάντα ἔργα κβʹ ἰσάριθ μα τοῖς κβʹ Ἑβραϊκοῖς γράμμασι καὶ ταῖς κβʹ Ἑβραϊκαῖς βίβλοις καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ ἕως Ἰακὼβ εἴκοσι δύο γεναρχίαις, ὡς ἐν λεπτῇ φέρεται Γενέσει, ἣν καὶ Μωϋσέως εἶναί φασί τινες ἀποκάλυψιν. αὕτη τὰς οὐρανίους δυνάμεις τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ λέγει ἐκτίσθαι. Ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης καὶ μέγας ἐν διδασκάλοις Χρυσόστομος τῇ ςʹ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς αʹ ἑβδομάδος, τοῦτ' ἔστι τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς πλάσεως αὐτοῦ, λέγει τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐκβληθῆναι τοῦ παραδείσου καὶ τὴν Εὔαν, ἐν τῇ ἑρμηνείᾳ τοῦ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγελίου, ᾧ καὶ ἡμεῖς πειθόμεθα. Ἑβδόμη ἡμέρα σαββάτῳ, ἐν ᾗ κατέπαυσεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων, καὶ ἡγίασεν αὐτήν. τὴν μὲν ποσότητα τοῦ χρόνου τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ διαγω γῆς τῶν πρωτοπλάστων ἀτράνωτον ἡμῖν ὁ θεόπτης Μωϋσῆς καταλέλοιπε, καὶ χρὴ τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀτελεῖς μὴ ζητεῖν καὶ περιεργάζεσθαι τὰ σεσιγη μένα τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ γραφῇ. ὅσα γὰρ ἦν ἐπωφελῆ καὶ χωρητὰ τοῖς ἀν θρώποις, ταῦτα ἡμῖν διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐκδέδοται, καὶ οὐ χρὴ περαι 4 τέρω τῶν θείων ὅρων προβαίνειν τοὺς ὀρθῶς ἐντυγχάνοντας, ἵνα μὴ ἀντὶ κέρδους μικροῦ μεγάλην ζημίαν ἐπισπάσωνται. ἐπειδὴ δέ τινες ἀκρατῶς ἔχοντες περὶ τοῦ συζητεῖν, εἴτε ἐκ δοκουμένης φιλομαθίας εἴτε καὶ κενο δοξίᾳ νυττόμενοι, τὰ θεῖα λόγια μετὰ χεῖρας φέροντες δεικνύειν πειρῶνται τὸν μὲν προπάτορα ἡμῶν Ἀδὰμ οὐκ εὐθὺς εἰσενηνέχθαι ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ὑπὸ θεοῦ, ἢ καὶ εἰσελθόντα πρὸ τῆς πλάσεως τῆς γυναικὸς ὀνόματα θέσθαι τοῖς θηρίοις καὶ τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅπερ μιᾶς ἡμέρας ἔργον οὐκ ἦν πρὸς ἀνθρωπίνην νόσον καὶ ἰσχύν, ὡς φιλονεικοῦσι, διὰ τὸ λέγειν τὴν γραφὴν ὅτι καὶ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασε, καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἔτι πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν, καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ παραδείσου, καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν κα λοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ. καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. καὶ ἤγαγεν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἰδεῖν τί καλέσει αὐτά. Εἴτα μετὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπάγει· τῷ δὲ Ἀδὰμ οὐχ εὑρέθη βοηθὸς ὅμοιος αὐτῷ. καὶ ἐπέβαλεν κύριος ἔκστασιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδάμ, καὶ ὕπνωσε, καὶ ἔλαβε μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνεπλήρωσε σάρκα ἀντ' αὐτῆς, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ἀναγκαίως προήχθην καὶ περὶ τούτου δηλῶσαι ἐν μέρει, ὅσα καὶ ἄλλοις ἱστορικοῖς Ἰουδαϊκὰς ἀρχαιολογίας ἢ καὶ Χριστιανικὰς ἱστορίας γράψασι περὶ